August 14, 2007

Return of the Milk Duds

Kyle took care of Jack this afternoon while I ran into town to run some errands. My first stop was Walmart . . . land of bizarre people doing bizarre things. When I walk into a Walmart, I'm usually confronted with so many crazy people and akward situations that I almost don't know where to start. Forget the movies. Bring a bucket of popcorn and sit on a bench in the grocery section for an evening of entertainment!

Anyway, today was a little different. It wasn't bizarre as much as it was sad. I have never seen so many badly behaved children in my life. I know I should never say, "My kids will never act like that," because I'll surely live to regret it. But I do hope to never react like their parents did. I heard screaming parents pretty much the entire time I was there.

The saddest story began when I saw a little boy (probably around 3 years old) wandering down an aisle yelling, "Mom?! Mom?!" I was about to pass the aisle when I saw him. I stopped and began looking around to see if there was a mother looking frantically for her child. I started walking toward the boy.

That's when I saw her.

There was a lady standing at the end of the aisle, with her back to the end cap. She seemed to be hiding but I knew that she couldn't be the mom of this little boy . . . who was crying by this point.

I walked to him, knelt down and said, "Hey buddy . . . I'll help you find your mom. Do you remember what she was wearing?"

Before he could respond, the endcap lady swung around the corner and shouted, "Don't help him!" I looked back and was completely stunned. This lady couldn't possibly know this little boy, could she?!

She grabbed the little boy (who I soon discovered was in her care) by the arm and said, "Were you scared?" He just sobbed and couldn't seem to get any words out.

"Huh? Were you scared? I hope you were scared," she grumbled. "That's what you get for walking ahead of me!" Then she proceeded to drag him down the aisle by his arm while telling him that he got what he deserves for going down the aisle ahead of her. I wanted to ask her what she deserves for letting her toddler walk ahead of her without stopping him and then deserting him.

I know that I haven't been in her shoes and I shouldn't judge her, but I was so sad for that little boy. He was so upset and there was no comfort, forgiveness or grace in his mother's eyes. He was so little.

As I was on my way out to my car it took me forever to find it. I walked up and down the parking lot lanes trying to figure out where I had parked. Unfortunately, this was not my first time ever having to do somthing like this. I kept seeing cars that looked like mine but with a different liscense plate. I finally resorted to walking up and down the lanes pressing the panic button. When I saw my car start honking and flashing, I was surprised to see it was one that I had passed several times. I had forgotten that Kyle had changed our plates over to our new ones. By this point, people were staring and wondering why I was pushing a cart full of groceries back toward Walmart. I kind of wonder if someone is blogging tonight about the bizarre girl they saw wandering the parking lot at Walmart. I guess the people I see at Walmart are probably a lot like I was in the parking lot this afternoon . . . normal people having bad days.

So, the last time I had a milk dud, I was sick. I'm sick again and have another. Coughing, achy, etc. So, which came first? Are the blocked milk ducts causing me to be sick (which is a possibility), or is the sickness causing the blocked milk ducts (which is also a medical possibility). Either way, I'd like them both to go away.

Also complicating things is my chronic shoulder pain. I hurt my shoulder my senior year of college doing "the wall" . . . a group building element in which you hoist your entire team up over a wall. I was with a bunch of girls who had no upper body strength (the fact that I ever had the most upper body strength in any given group of people is very amusing to me). I pulled most of them up and over. My shoulder hasn't been the same since.

I've been to specialists, spent thousands in (worthless) physical therapy, seen a chiropractor regularly for a couple of years and nothing has helped. When I got pregnant, my shoulder problems disappeared! Weird, right? My uneducated theory is that the hormone your body produces during pregnancy to loosen your joints to prepare you for delivery helped to loosen my shoulder and reduce the pain. Anyway, about two weeks after I had Jack, the pain returned. This week, it hurts more than it ever did before. This is not good when you're trying to take care of a 15 lb. baby. I have a hard time lifting his carrier in and out of the car or rocking him for a long period of time.

We're heading to Chicago this weekend to visit my sister. I'm hoping that all of my issues clear up by Friday . . . fingers crossed, but I'll have tylenol packed just in case.

Well, Jack's sleeping in the bassinet next to me (he's almost too long to sleep in there anymore) so I should be sleeping too. Good night.